Pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada stood out with figures of 3-20 to help South Africa boost their semi-final hopes at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with a six-wicket win over Bangladesh on Tuesday.
Rabada and fellow quick Anrich Nortje shared six wickets between them to skittle out Bangladesh for just 84 in 18.2 overs in Abu Dhabi.
South Africa lost four wickets but skipper Temba Bavuma hit an unbeaten 31 and steered the team home in 13.3 overs for a third win from four Super 12 matches.
T20 World Cup, SA vs BAN as it happened: Bavuma guides South Africa home after pacers star
Super 12 Group 1
| TEAM | PLAYED | WON | LOST | NET RR | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGLAND | 4 | 4 | 0 | +3.183 | 8 |
| SOUTH AFRICA | 4 | 3 | 1 | +0.742 | 6 |
| AUSTRALIA | 3 | 2 | 1 | -0.627 | 4 |
| SRI LANKA | 4 | 1 | 3 | -0.590 | 2 |
| WEST INDIES | 3 | 1 | 2 | -1.598 | 2 |
| BANGLADESH | 4 | 0 | 4 | -1.435 | 0 |
Taskin Ahmed returned figures of 2-18 but Bangladesh bowed out of the race for the final four after losing all their four matches.
Rabada came all guns blazing after South Africa elected to field first and sent back Mohammed Naim, for nine, and Soumya Sarkar, for nought, to be on a hat-trick.
Mushfiqur Rahim denied Rabada his third successive wicket on the first ball of his next over but got out three deliveries later without scoring.
Bangladesh suffered another double blow when Nortje claimed skipper Mahmudullah Riyad’s prized scalp for three and Afif Hossain fell to Dwaine Pretorius for a duck.
Bangladesh slipped to 34-5 and the wickets kept tumbling with Nortje and leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi sharing five wickets between them as South Africa wrapped up the Bangladesh innings in 18.2 overs.
Mahedi Hasan top-scored with 27 before being caught and bowled by Nortje.
In reply, South Africa fell to 33-3 after Aiden Markam was dismissed for nought by Taskin but Rassie van der Dussen, who made 22, and Bavuma put the chase back on track.
The pair put on 47 runs for the fourth wicket before Nasum Ahmed got van der Dussen out.
David Miller came to hit the winning boundary as South Africa made it three wins in a row after their opening loss to Australia who are third in the table led by unbeaten England.
England, with four wins from four, are virtually assured of a place in the semi-finals leaving South Africa and Australia as the main contenders for second place in the group.
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